Monday, June 20, 2011

More Than Metal: More Than Metal is a love letter to jewellery love...: "More Than Metal is a love letter to jewellery lovers and designers in Toronto. This show gathers the best of one of a kind jewellery in Toronto made with a diversity of mediums, including metals, wood, clay, bead, lost and found objects, paper, glass, fiber, and gathers them in a multiplicity of styles – all for one day under one roof.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

It was a great event, small and not too stressful at all. In fact it was very fun, and there were lots of really cool people. I met some great crafty and innovative people who also set up shop, splitting tables and enjoying deeeeelicious cookies from CookieFridayco as people listened to some really great, local indie bands and singers.

I will introduce you to each Vendor, but for today I want you to meet a very special girl named Tara!

I got to sit beside this wonderful crafter in silk screening, textiles and knitting who came a long way for this fun event! Hard times has really hit her good, without a job and taking care of an elderly lady . She came to this event with less than 20 bucks to her name and only wished she could make enough to cover her fare home. None of which cramped her style, she had a cheerful demeanor, friendly and funny and she was certainly great company. Her lovely work can be found at shipwrecksandbravery.com

Through all this excitement, I had left behind a gorgeous pink coffee cup cozy. I was too busy thinking about 'what to get a man?' and 'I'm soooooo hungry I have to eat all those cookies!!!' that I forgot to get something that I think is PERFECT for my sensitive fingers because I can't STAND coffee cups. They burn my hands, even when I double cup. (sorry eco-lovers I just can't help it, coffee cups really do give me burns but I do recycle) So here Tara has the perfect solution.

Here is her lovely set up right beside mine! I love her robust and crafty look. Something I could never achieve!! You can see the collection of Coffee Cozies of such a beautiful variety ready to be used! One gentlemen thought he could use it for his guitar, but for the moment, they are not for guitars!! (sorry guitar lovers you cannot cozy your guitar)

People loved these pins. They are wonderful gifts, and the compass and anchor were the favorites.

note: Compass pin does not actually give directions

Please check out her shop and consider one of these lovelies as a gift for yourself or a friend!

Tara was a lovely girl and I was so glad to have met her, she was a joy to sit beside when the crowds were busy with the bands and beer. I'm hoping I'll run into her again soon! =)

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Lots of fun things have been happening lately. How do I fit it all in one post?

To start, I got accepted into an amazing group called the 'Artisan Group' that participates in the 'gift lounges' for Celebrities after things like the Oscars and the Emmy Awards. I just presented them with some of my jewelry from my 'Victorian Romance' Collection which is a growing collection of street wear and urban jewelry with a Victorian and Vintage feel.

At the time they were full up on reservations for the Primetime Emmy Awards in September, but turns out a few weeks later they had a few spots open for people to submit their business cards for the swag bags the celebrities receive as gifts. So I have reserved a spot, and as we speak some wonderful new business cards are being designed just for this occassion - except I love the design sooo much that I think it will become my main business card too! Who knows, perhaps even a banner!

Secondly, I have an amazing, AMAZING dog named Tasha. I submitted a photo with Sympatico and explained a little bit about why she's so amazing and she's been nominated as one of the dogs they'll consider for a spot, and so I've got work to do in filling out a questionnaire and finding a pretty picture of the two of us. This is the picture I've selected, and hopefully it is a seller!!

Tasha and Me

And lastly, in relation to the wonderful business card being made for me, I had to use a flat white background...and my new LED portable lights that I'll be using at the venue made such great photos. Some could use some brightening still, but they look lovely.

The real trick?

I discovered this FASCINATING online photo uploader called Picnik which you can use to edit your photos. It has auto-fix options which work WONDERS! I have amazing photos now for my shop. So beautiful, I just have to show them off!

And don't forget, these lovelies are ALL going to the venue this weekend where hundreds of people will be pawing and drooling over singers and crafters, so if there is anything you have had your eye on - you better buy it this week before the 11th. Who knows if it will be coming back home with me!

Doesn't that image look lovely? I got lucky here with the lighting. I used two LED lights and sometimes they were hard to position, and at first I thought it was too bright...but nope, it looks AMAZING!

That's all for now. It's time to get back to work and prepare for that venue and make more listings!